Phoenix Cry City was bustling and lively in the morning.
As a coastal city, it also had waterways. There were plenty of docks, plenty of ships, and plenty of merchants.
Li Sandao, a Sixth Rank martial artist, served at the government office as Phoenix Cry City's head constable.
That morning, he got up and was just about to take his nine-year-old son to school. The moment he stepped outside, the sight on the street stunned him.
His son stood with him, staring blankly at the scene before them.
His son's mouth hung open, and Liu Sandao couldn't help exclaiming, "Holy shit! Is this still Phoenix Cry?"
"It... it should be?" His son wasn't quite sure either.
"Son, give me a pinch. Let me see if I'm dreaming."
The entire street had been occupied by the words "Tianyang Sect" and "Tianyang Martial Dao Academy."
If the advertisements in Little Wang Village had been a pebble tossed into a lake, then the publicity campaign in the city was a raging surge of waves, a storm of towering breakers.
Phoenix Cry City's streets were covered in huge banners, white lettering on red backgrounds and black lettering on white.
"Tianyang Sect is recruiting disciples! Boys and girls aged seven to fifteen are welcome to apply!"
"Which martial dao academy is the best? Look for Tianyang outside Phoenix Cry City!"
"Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy charges no fees for your first year!"
"Becoming a great hero isn't just a dream. Tianyang will find your way forward!"
"Still wondering where your child should learn martial arts? Come take a look at Tianyang Sect outside Phoenix Cry City!"
Besides the banners, notices and posters had been pasted on the walls of restaurants and teahouses, on noticeboards at market entrances, and even on the doors of some shops. The posters depicted Tianyang Sect's future vision, with disciples sweating like rain on the training grounds, their eyes sharp. Beside them were highly stirring words:
"Give your child a future. Give the future hope."
"The chance to change your life is in your hands. Enrollment is heating up at Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy! Two thousand places available this year. Enrollment closes once all places are filled. First come, first served!"
"Still worried about being rejected when you want to learn martial arts?
Still troubled over which sect to choose?
Still distressed about not finding work after completing your training?
Don't worry. Don't be sad. Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy will solve all your troubles.
Here, you'll receive guidance from a team of top instructors, all experts at fighting above their rank.
Here, you'll find eight hundred years of martial heritage and a vast collection of secret manuals to choose from.
Enjoy a year of trial study with no fees. Boys and girls welcome."
"Enroll at Tianyang Sect and enjoy multiple benefits. A full year of trial study, not a penny charged! Food and lodging included! After the first year, outstanding disciples of the year receive full tuition waivers, while exceptional disciples can receive an 'Outstanding Talent Scholarship,' paid out in real silver!"
"A worry-free future: job recommendations upon graduation!
Still troubled over what work you'll do after learning martial arts? Still worried that your cultivation realm is too low?
Tianyang Sect has established close partnerships with leading businesses in Yu Province, including the Fair Wind Escort Agency, the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, and the Pacify the Distant Martial Hall. Complete your training and start working. Say goodbye to job-hunting troubles!"
Father and son looked as though something had struck them. Everywhere their eyes swept, there was Tianyang Sect. Advertisements of every kind were everywhere.
A newsboy by the roadside held flyers in one hand and newspapers in the other.
Before Liu Sandao could speak, the newsboy had already placed a flyer in his hand, calling out:
"Come take a look! Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy is recruiting! Teaching guaranteed, learning guaranteed, placement guaranteed! Your chance to change your fate is right before your eyes! Don't pass up this opportunity!"
Liu Sandao and his son lowered their heads to read the flyer. Its contents were much the same as those banners and notices, only with more detailed information about Tianyang Sect's enrollment and benefits.
"No need to worry about your aptitude for martial arts. Tianyang Sect has outstanding teachers who will personally plan your martial path. We offer palm technique classes, fist technique classes, leg technique classes, hidden weapon classes, sword classes, saber classes, spear classes-all eighteen martial disciplines are available.
Choose Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy. There's always a martial path that suits you.
Sign an 'Employment Intent Agreement' upon enrollment, ensuring qualified graduates receive priority for internships and employment with partner businesses. Strategic partnerships have already been established with the following organizations: the Fair Wind Escort Agency, the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, the Bian Clan Trading Company, the Pacify the Distant Escort Agency, the Six Doors, and other businesses. Students may choose a direction based on their strengths and preferences. Pass the assessment and be hired directly, with starting monthly pay ranging from five to twenty taels!
We won't make you brave the wind and sleep in the open alone, licking blood from a blade's edge. Choose from a variety of jobs."
"Master martial arts and prosper. Tianyang will find your way forward!"
The pair lowered the flyer and looked at the newspapers in the newsboy's hand.
Liu Sandao said, "Shall we buy one?"
His son, Liu Sidao, said, "Dad, want to bet the newspaper has this stuff in it too?"
"Mm."
Despite their premonition, the pair still bought a copy.
Their family bought a newspaper every day, not to read the news, but to follow the serialized Journey to the West.
The story had now reached the point where Sun Wukong became the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
Sure enough, the moment they got it, they saw the headline:
"In-depth analysis: Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy-martial world's rising star or educational revolution?"
"'School-business partnerships' plus 'job recommendations': how is Tianyang Sect solving the traditional martial world's thousand-year-old problem of unemployment upon graduation?"
The article even included a comparison chart:
Category: traditional sects versus Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy.
Training goals, traditional sects: martial experts and continuation of the sect's legacy.
Tianyang Sect: martial talent and pillars of society.
Teaching model, traditional sects: master-to-disciple instruction; outer disciples and inner disciples cannot freely browse the sect's secret manuals, a privilege reserved for personal disciples.
Tianyang Sect: instruction tailored to aptitude, systematic and standardized courses, tiered teaching.
Career support, traditional sects: strike out on your own; the sect takes no responsibility.
Tianyang Sect: job recommendations, direct sect-business pathways, and employment within the sect.
Benefits, traditional sects: varies by sect; mostly austere.
Tianyang Sect: free trial study, scholarships, food and lodging included...
After reading the headline article, nine-year-old Liu Sidao sniffed back his snot and looked up at his father.
"How about I give martial arts a try at Tianyang Sect? I've trained with you before, so I have a foundation."
Liu Sandao thought it over. "Leaving aside how strong their heritage really is, these benefits alone are very tempting."
Liu Sidao nodded. "Exactly. I'm not cut out for studying anyway. I might as well follow the martial path. If I become an expert of the upper three ranks someday, I could bring glory to our ancestors."
"All right. Since you have ambition, my boy, go give it a try!"
Conversations like this took place in many families.
Besides those with families, quite a few orphans were also eager to try after hearing the news.
Rather than wandering the streets, they might as well give Tianyang Sect a try.
The first year is free anyway. What if I'm a martial genius?
Inside a teahouse, several regulars held flyers and debated with spittle flying.
"Tsk, tsk. Guaranteed placement? That's a bigger mouthful than the beef brisket my wife stews!" A plump cloth merchant shook his head, though curiosity showed on his face.
Beside him, an old escort who had traveled far and wide sipped his tea and drawled, "Boss Wang, you may have misjudged this time. The chief escort of the Fair Wind Escort Agency is a friend I've faced life and death with. He personally told me they've already signed an agreement with Tianyang Sect. When they recruit escorts in the future, Tianyang Sect graduates get priority. He said their systematic training gives their students solid foundations and a sense of discipline, making them much easier to manage than those self-taught types out in the martial world! The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce feels the same way. They need a great many reliable guards. I'd say these job recommendations are probably real!"
A peddler squeezed over and said excitedly, "Exactly! In the past, if ordinary people's children wanted to learn martial arts, they had to dance to those big sects' tune. Even if they got in, they had to spend years working their way up. And what could they do afterward?
The good ones could make their own way, while the bad ones might sink into ruin. Look at Tianyang Sect. They're linked directly to so many major firms. You come out with a proper occupation, a contract, and monthly pay. How reassuring is that?
Isn't it just like sending your child to learn carpentry or bookkeeping, except they're learning martial arts?
And if they really become great heroes, leaping up high and soaring away, they might even leave their names in the martial world."
Elsewhere, a woman in plain but clean clothing was pulling her husband over to look at the words "boys and girls welcome" on a poster. "Look, our daughter can go too! And there's that scholarship..."
The woman was deeply tempted, but she still had to gauge her husband's reaction. She continued persuading him, "Our girl's quick with her hands and feet. If she really learns something, even if she doesn't join an escort agency, she could become a female household guard for a wealthy family, or work as a supervisor at a chamber of commerce, like it says up there. That would still be better than marrying her off early to that good-for-nothing Ergouzi on the next street!"
Her husband frowned, calculating inwardly. A year for free, with meals included... Even if she doesn't learn anything, we'll save a year's living expenses, and she'll see something of the world. If she does learn something, she'll have such good prospects... However I look at it, this deal isn't a loss!
Similar scenes played out in every corner of the five cities.
Tianyang Sect's publicity had precisely grasped the most fundamental needs of ordinary urban families-stability and a way forward.
It packaged learning martial arts, something originally risky and difficult to access, as vocational training with bright prospects, greatly lowering the public's psychological barriers and stirring widespread enthusiasm to participate.
Of course, there were wealthy families too, and they considered rather more factors.
Many people from wealthy families also wanted to learn martial arts.
Some were sent great distances to major sects, only to become outer disciples, braving the wind and sleeping in the open, then having to come home in the end.
Yet if they became inner disciples or personal disciples, they might be unable to return even if they wanted to.
With the way major sects behaved, a personal disciple leaving the sect was betraying their masters. Even if they parted peacefully, they couldn't freely use the sect's core martial arts.
Tianyang Sect worked, though. You could leave upon graduation. Nobody was forced to stay. It was entirely voluntary!
Of course, besides martial training, wealthy families also saw a business opportunity.
The advertisements in the newspaper!
Tianyang Sect had run just one advertising campaign, and the publicity blanketed everything. Everyone knew about it.
If their own businesses pulled something like this, wouldn't they make a fortune?
The newspaper belonged to Old Bian's family. Hurry over!
At the Bian residence, Old Bian was very busy that day, his doorstep bustling like a marketplace.
Business acquaintances descended on his home in droves, hoping to advertise in his newspaper.
Old Bian had prepared in advance. He produced a price list, then calmly sipped his tea.
The list read:
Small-print advertisements at the bottom of the newspaper: three hundred taels per issue.
Advertisements in the fifth section: eight hundred taels per issue.
Advertisements in the fourth section: fifteen hundred taels per issue.
Front-page headline with interview: ten thousand taels per issue!
Inside Tianyang Sect, the eldest senior brother found Zhang Qingyuan with a flyer in one hand and a newspaper in the other. "Junior Brother, was this your real plan?"
Zhao Guangqi still couldn't believe that his own sect would one day turn the established order upside down like this.
Although Zhang Qingyuan had told them beforehand, seeing the newspapers everywhere, the teaching methods, and the future plans still left him struggling to accept it.
It was far too different from the sect he remembered. It felt as though it had been defiled.
Zhang Qingyuan smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Just tell me, will we fill all two thousand places in a few days?"
"Yes, definitely!" Zhao Guangqi pictured it. "Forget two thousand. I reckon we could fill five thousand places."
Zhang Qingyuan said, "But we can't take that many for now. Two thousand is our limit.
As our influence grows and we develop our facilities, we can increase the number of disciples each year."
Zhao Guangqi exclaimed, "We're expanding enrollment again? At our peak, including all the elders and personal disciples, we only had five thousand people."
"I said we'd surpass our ancestors' glory, didn't I? If I say it, I have to do it." Zhang Qingyuan grinned smugly. "And do you know why I want to recruit so many people?"
"To surpass our ancestors?" Zhao Guangqi said uncertainly.
Zhang Qingyuan explained, "It's called sifting gold from the sand, and it's a matter of probability. With this many disciples, two thousand in each intake, surely those two thousand will eventually produce a few hundred in the middle three ranks and a few dozen in the upper three ranks?"
Zhao Guangqi sucked in a breath of his deceased master. A few dozen in the upper three ranks?
Even a dozen or so would do!
Other sects recruited a few hundred disciples at a time. In the end, several dozen might enter the inner sect, but how many could become personal disciples?
And they only recruited once every few years, mostly taking city children or orphans.
Their own sect, however, had left out neither cities nor villages.
Especially the village children. Some village children's talents weren't necessarily inferior to those of city children.
According to what his sect leader junior brother had said, it really was feasible. Most importantly, they recruited every year!
That evening, inside Tianyang Sect, Zhang Qingyuan listened to the public feedback his fourth and third senior brothers had brought back, an unsurprised smile appearing on his face.
"Third Brother, Fourth Brother, thanks for the hard work. The results look good."
His fourth senior brother chuckled. "More than good! Third Brother's family is practically run off their feet. The printing workshop hasn't stopped day or night. Lots of merchants saw what our newspaper could do and started asking about advertising prices!"
His third senior brother nodded too. "City folk are shrewd. Free training and martial arts alone might not move them. But once 'job recommendations' appeared, especially with so many established businesses listed, plenty of people were tempted on the spot. Quite a few are asking exactly what the requirements for enrollment are."
"The requirements are all written down. The ones asking must not have read carefully," Zhang Qingyuan teased, then added, "Third Brother, finding it fun now?"
"Fun. Far too much fun." Bian Zhenxuan poured himself a cup of tea. "I told you, I'm not lazy. There just wasn't anything that could spark my interest.
Next time you have any good ideas, tell your big brother. I'll get the job done, guaranteed!"
Zhang Qingyuan smiled and said to Old Fourth, "Get Fifth Brother and recruit twenty licentiates for me. Sign them to one-year contracts."
"Huh?"
Zhang Qingyuan said, "We have to consider these disciples. There'll be orphans, poor people, and village children. Not everyone can read.
They won't need to read secret manuals in their first year, but we have to make sure they can understand them when it's time to read them in their second year!"
"Understood!" Old Fourth made an OK gesture, turned, and ran outside.
Third Brother took a sip of tea and rose to stand by the window. Gazing toward the horizon, he said ambitiously, "This is only the first step. Once our first students achieve success and build Tianyang Sect's reputation, we won't need publicity on this scale anymore. Students will naturally come in an endless stream. And we will truly possess the power to change the rules of this world."
Zhang Qingyuan raised an eyebrow and gazed into the distance alongside him. "Third Brother, that's quite an ambition."
Bian Zhenxuan said, "I simply understood your thinking, didn't I?"
The clamor below the mountain and the planning above it together sketched a curious picture unlike that of any martial sect before. The great ship that was Tianyang Sect Martial Dao Academy had sounded its steam whistle and was preparing to sail into an unknown, vast blue ocean.
The grand spectacle of enrollment day already seemed foreseeable...